St. Patrick’s Battalion

By Father James Hannon

Around St. Patrick’s Day in the month
of March we read and hear a lot about the contribution of Irish people to
American history. At the present time, more than forty million people in the
United States and perhaps as many as forty-four million, claim to be at
least part Irish in their ancestry.

The army of George Washington was
about one-third Irish and an even higher percentage during the terrible winter
at Valley Forge. There were Irish brigades on both sides of the Civil War. The
valor of the 69th New York Regiment in the First World War was
portrayed in the popular movie "The Fighting Sixty-Ninth", with James Cagney and
Pat O’Brien. But a very different type of story is that of St. Patrick’s
Battalion.

From 1845 to 1848 the United States
and Mexico waged war. Since the southern states were nearer to Mexico, a high
percentage of the American troops came from that area. Most of these boys would
have been of English and Scottish Protestant background and not very friendly to
Catholics. This is not to be taken as a harsh criticism of these soldiers. But
from the time they were small they received a great deal of anti-Catholic
information. This was all they knew.

At the same time the blight on the
Irish potato had occurred and now the Irish nation was suffering from the
famine. Large numbers begin to emigrate to the United States. Many of them were
recruited into the army. They participated in the American advance into Mexico.
Meanwhile, they were suffering the taunts, mockery and discrimination of their
fellow soldiers. As the army made progress and occupied village after village in
Mexico, the Irish troops saw the little churches and observed the strong
Catholic faith of the native population. They began to question what they
themselves were doing. They were shooting at poor Catholic people and destroying
much of their property. This reminded them of their own Catholic and
poverty-stricken background in Ireland. At the same time, they were suffering
from the treatment given them by the American soldiers from the south.

So several hundred made the decision
to desert from the American army and join the Mexican forces. From then on until
the end of the war, they fought against the advancing Americans. Eventually,
they were all either killed in battle or captured. Fifty of them were executed
by hanging, sixteen were whipped and the rest were branded with a large "D" on
their hips for desertion. The Mexican government erected a large Celtic crucifix
with a skull, crossbones, gamecock and dice as a memorial to their bravery.

This story is told not to praise
desertion from the American army but to show that discrimination and strong
spiritual bonds can often lead men to change their allegiances and to make some
very crucial and fateful decisions in their lives.